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New award for Plastic Logic and ISORG’s sensor which promises to transform the way we interact with consumer devices

1 April 2014

New award for Plastic Logic and ISORG’s sensor which promises to transform the way we interact with consumer devices

Cambridge, UK and Grenoble, France – 1 April 2014 – Plastic Logic and ISORG were jointly awarded the IDTechEx Product development award at the Printed Electronics Show in Berlin. This award was for their jointly developed revolutionary flexible image sensor which also won the Flexi Award at Flextech, Phoenix, USA in February.

Plastic Logic, the leader in the development and industrialisation of flexible organic electronics, and ISORG, the pioneer in organic photodetectors and large area image sensors in printed electronics, won the award for their revolutionary large area flexible image sensor. The flexible sensor demonstration, which is only a fraction of a millimeter thick (~150 microns) and weighs only 2.7 grams, gave a glimpse of the huge range of possible applications for the large area sensor technology. The overall market for printed and flexible sensors is forecast to be worth over $7Bn by 2020 (IDTechEx 2014).

The collaboration is based on the deposition of organic printed photodetectors (OPD), pioneered by ISORG, onto a plastic organic thin-film transistor (OTFT) backplane, developed by Plastic Logic, to create a flexible sensor array. The result, a flexible, transmissive backplane, represents a significant breakthrough in the manufacture of new large area image sensors and demonstrates the potential use of Plastic Logic’s unique flexible transistor technology beyond plastic displays. Combined with ISORG’s unique organic photodetector technology, it allows the creation of conformable, large area image sensors, which are thinner, lighter, flexible and more robust than traditional approaches.

The combination of these two technologies opens up possibilities for a range of new applications, based around digital image sensing, including smart packaging and sensors for medical equipment and biomedical diagnostics, security and mobile commerce (user identification by fingerprint scanning), environmental and other industrial uses. The most exciting application is to add gesture recognition interaction to consumer electronics devices (laptops, tablets, and smartphones), which will not only reduce the weight and thickness of the device, but it will also make conventional input devices such as mouse, keyboards, and even touch-screens redundant. The total gesture recognition and touch-less sensing market is expected to reach $22.04 billion by 2020 (MarketsandMarket 2013). The optical sensors arrays will usher in the ‘post-tactile’ revolution of user interfaces creating spectacular new functionalities of immersive 3D interaction with display and graphics for new experiences of gaming and multimedia contents. Seamless operation of tactile and touchless interaction will be possible by hand proximity detection and gesture recognition at pixel level.

Commenting on the achievement Indro Mukerjee, CEO, Plastic Logic, said: ‘This award confirms the real excitement and focus on technology breakthroughs to enable new ways to interact with consumer and industrial electronics devices. It nicely underpins our discussions with leading companies to enable them to develop volume applications’. Jean-Yves Gomez, CEO of ISORG, stated ‘We are very proud to receive such a prestigious international award. This collaboration demonstrates the versatility of organic electronics to combine two different technologies to create new and disruptive products for a broad range of markets. The first large area image sensor on plastic has already attracted strong interest from industry and consumer electronics leaders for new applications and functionalities.’

About ISORG

ISORG is the leading and pioneer company in organic photodetectors and large area image sensors in printed electronics. ISORG develops a disruptive technology transforming plastic and glass into smart surfaces able to see. These new sensors are conformable, thin and lightweight with low current consumption, offering unique advantages over traditional image sensors in terms of sensing area, cost per area ratio and mechanical integration. These sensors enable creation of many innovative products such interactive surfaces for object detection and recognition, large area scanning surfaces, revolutionary user interfaces for consumer products. ISORG technology opens innovation for medical, industry and consumer markets.

ISORG has industrialized the process with its pilot manufacturing line in Grenoble and plans mass production volumes for 2015 with its new manufacturing unit.

Plastic Logic is the recognised leader in organic thin-film transistors (OTFT) and is at the forefront of research and investment in plastic electronics. The company has industrialised the process technology and now manufactures a range of high-quality, shatterproof, ultra-thin and ultra-lightweight plastic displays. These offer huge advantages over conventional screens, as they are extremely flexible with proven lifetimes. Solutions for sensor and other non-display applications are in development, enabling revolutionary design possibilities, set to transform existing markets such as wearable and mobile devices, signage, and automotive, as well as many others. Plastic Logic is backed by major investors including Rusnano and Oak Investment Partners.